12 import games I bought in 2012 but didn't tell you about until now: Door Door (Famicom)

If ever you've wondered why I started "collecting" Famicom games a few years ago, here's my answer:



The Famicom game shown in the photo above is Enix's Door Door, by the way--an adorable little puzzler-platformer that was released only in Japan all the way back in 1985.



In my humble opinion, Door Door may have the best packaging of any Famicom release. Not only is the cover art top notch, but each of the box's side flaps feature illustrations of the game's alien "baddies."



Oh, and the back of Door Door's box is pretty delicious, too, as you can see in the photo below. I'm not sure what the little aliens are saying in their speech bubbles, but I'm guess it's something precious.



Ah, you didn't think I'd fail to show you Door Door's cartridge, did you? Yes, it's cute, too. Are you surprised?

I don't know about you, but I really like its 1970s vibe, what with those bands of yellow and orange. Also, the game's protagonist, Chun (who later inspired the name of designer Koichi Nakamura's company, Chunsoft), makes a rather welcome appearance.



Now that I've seemingly got your attention about all things Door Door, keep your eyes on this space (or, rather, this blog) for a "Great Gaymathon" review of it in the coming weeks.

See also: Previous '12 games I bought in 2012 but didn't tell you about until now' posts

The Great Gaymathon Review #43: Guru Logi Champ (GameBoy Advance)

Game: Guru Logi Champ

Genre: Puzzle

Developer: Compile

Publisher: Compile

System: GameBoy Advance

Release date: 2001

If you want to know why I bought a copy of this game, check out its cover art (above). OK, so that wasn't the only reason I picked it up, but it was a rather prominent one. A few others: it was developed by the folks at Compile (makers of Aleste, Gunhead, Puyo Puyo and more) and it has garnered rave reviews over the years. Oh, and it's portable--as is the case with pretty much all of my favorite puzzlers.

So, has it lived up to expectations, despite the fact that I dropped a pretty penny on it? Definitely. That's mainly due to the fact that it differs from just about every other puzzle game I've ever played. If I had to name one it's similar to, I'd go with Picross. Even that isn't the greatest comparison, though, as while the two titles are alike in some ways, they're otherwise quite unique.

For instance, each "stage" in Guru Logi Champ starts with a semi-finished image. The player's job, then, is to complete the image by shooting blocks (from a cannon, using the GBA's A button) up into the play area. That's easier said than done, though, because: 1) you're given just enough blocks to complete a given stage and 2) blocks continue to slide across the play area until they run into another block. The good news: blocks can be sucked back into the aforementioned cannon by pressing the GBA's B button. Also, the play area can be rotated using the system's shoulder buttons.

Anyway, as is often the case with such games, it all begins rather easily before ramping up to a level of difficulty I like to refer to as "brain-breaking." Thankfully, it never crosses the line to "game-breaking"--as in, you get so frustrated you want to yank the cartridge from the system and smash it to smithereens.

In fact, it's nearly always completely enjoyable, due in no small part to Guru Logi Champ's wonderfully silly (and colorful) characters and graphics, which includes (in the game's single-player story mode) a number of hilarious intermissions, and its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink soundtrack, which includes both tropically-inflected and hip-hop-esque tunes.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts